


Saying Her Names

by semele



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-12
Updated: 2012-06-12
Packaged: 2017-11-07 14:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/431952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/semele/pseuds/semele
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So, what's the name now?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saying Her Names

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Bechdel Test Comment!Ficathon. Prompted by softly-me: _there are many names in history but none of them are ours_

_In our world, where there are more and more faces, more and more alike, it is difficult for an individual to reinforce the originality of the self and to become convinced of its inimitable uniqueness. There are two methods for cultivating the uniqueness of the self: the method of addition and the method of substraction._  
M. Kundera, _Immortality_

“So, what's the name now?”, asks Katherine every time, and even if she can't see her, she knows the girl is smiling.

“Frances,” she answers briefly.

(“It's not like 'Elena' was mine to begin with,” she tried to explain once, but Katherine waved her off.)

They are in Glasgow now, and it probably has something to do with the name. After all, it was Caroline in Paris and Miranda in Richmond, so for a while Katherine thought she'd guessed the pattern. But then five years after Richmond they met in Boston, and it was Maggie, not Bonnie, so Katherine just kept trying to figure it out over and over again. As if she didn't understand.

“Is it Jenna already?”, snapped Katherine when they met in Vienna, ages ago.

That didn't work so well.

“And how about you? What is it these days, Kathy? Cath? Katey? Hey, why don't you try Catelyn? You wouldn't stand out that much. I mean, I know, like, three Sansas and even a Daenerys, all in their twenties. What do you say?”

“I'll give it a thought,” replied Katherine, suddenly feeling a little uneasy; no one should say such things about her, and especially not the girl with no name.

(There just has to be a name; any name would do, but there has to be a name. If there isn't any, at least not really, it just hits too close to home.)

“Have you ever tried to pass as Kitty?”

“Briefly.”

“When?”

“1820s. Seduced a baronet.”

“I bet you did.”

She laughed almost like someone young and carefree, and this one conversation in Vienna was the only time Katherine actually considered sleeping with her. Eventually she decided against it. It would be bizzarre, she thought, to see this body under her own fingers.

(It would be bizarre, she thought, to be so naked.)

But now she doesn't even think about anything like that, not any more. She just takes a sit and orders a cup of coffee. This time they don't talk about anything important; in fact, they barely talk at all. Katherine takes a deep breath when they part. Of course she can still hear everything even as she is walking down the street, but that's not important. It's not like she couldn't tune it out if she wanted (it's not like she could stop seeking her out).

“Good day, Mrs Johnson,” says the old waiter (“She needs to change a restaurant,” Katherine catches herself thinking, “She really does.”). “May I just say, you have a very beautiful granddaughter.”

“Do I now?”


End file.
